School psychologists soon to be in big demand in Georgia

Posted: Thursday, August 03, 2000

By Shannon WombleStaff Writer

ATLANTA -- The ranks of Georgia's school psychologists are filled largely by veteran mental health providers nearing retirement, and without new blood officials fear the profession -- and the state's students -- could be in jeopardy.

Within the last six months, the Georgia Association of School Psychologists noticed an alarming trend, officials said. Nearly half of the state's school psychologists are retiring or nearing retirement, and the rate of incoming psychologists doesn't match the rate of those leaving.

''We've never had to replace people in this field before, because people who came in were added to the core of existing psychologists who were in their prime,'' said Frank Smith, a state Department of Education consultant for school psychological service. ''Typically, just a few rural school systems have a hard time filling jobs. This year will be a different story.''

According to the state Department of Education only 85 new psychologists entered the field last year. There are currently 30 positions for school psychologists needing to be filled.

Steve Corkery, lead psychologist with Bibb County schools, said he hasn't had any openings in his 40-school system until this year. Then he lost several qualified applicants for the position to school systems in Atlanta.

''I think we are on the fringe of it,'' he said. ''As this field starts graying, we are really going to have to start recruiting different types of people into this field.''

With 24,500 students in his system, Corkery said he'd like to have at least two more school psychologists on staff. Even though Bibb County can't afford to fund that many positions, Corkery said he'd have a difficult time finding qualified people.

''We know this is going to hit us pretty strongly,'' said Robert Smith, president of the Georgia Association of School Psychologists. ''There is no one else able to evaluate students for special programs or to provide crisis intervention when a teacher dies if we're not there.''

The field of school psychology only recently began to blossom, according to Smith. As late as 1965, Georgia only had one school psychologist. The field has grown by about 500 people since the early 1980s, and the state hasn't seen much attrition since that time, either.

Despite the low turnover, the state lags behind others when it comes to the number of school psychologists on staff.

In a time when school violence is common, there's one school psychologist to every 2,800 students in Georgia. The national average is one psychologist to every 1,500 students.

Lack of adequate funding has contributed to the low ratios, according to experts. Until this year, local systems used their own money to hire enough psychologists because state funds weren't adequate. New legislation has upped the funding rate, but isn't expected to make a difference in the number of new psychologists hired.

''Many districts have decided to reimburse themselves with the new state funds and not added psychologists to their staffs,'' said Robert Smith.

''There might be a few new positions created, but not nearly enough. Even if they are created, we're going to have to work to find people to staff them.''

A school psychologist in Georgia makes an average of $53,000, according to the National Association of School Psychologists, about $5,000 over the national average.

School and state officials are increasingly nervous about the potential shortages because of new regulations under Gov. Roy Barnes' education reform legislation.

Under the new rules, school psychologists have shorter time lines in which to conduct evaluations of students for special services.

''We can only work so fast, especially when there aren't enough of us,'' said Robert Smith. ''It is going to be interesting, especially when school starts, to see how everyone fares.''

Smith said his group needs to better promote the field of school psychology and find incentives for those willing to join their ranks.

''We've found out that people find out about school psychology all kinds of ways, but not from the school psychologists themselves,'' he said.

''We've got to change that. We've also got to make it easier for people to come here from other states. We need a reciprocity system that standardizes licenses.''

The group is expected to ask the state to label the field as a critical shortage profession, which would increase Georgia's efforts to recruit more people into the field.